


Recalibrating Route

by mosylu



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Cisco understating things as usual, Gen, I apologize for any and all earworms, Ralph is being annoying, also as usual, tag for 5x03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-13 22:58:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16481366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mosylu/pseuds/mosylu
Summary: In the car with Ralph, on the way back to Central City after the trip to see her mother, Caitlin gets a text from Cisco.He probablymeantto be reassuring.





	Recalibrating Route

**Author's Note:**

> Because I really, really needed Caitlin's reaction to that whole "Death of Vibe" thing. It could have been a lot more dramatique but I wrote it fast.

The text came through around the time that the sixty-seventh bottle of beer was getting passed around, and Caitlin grabbed her phone with relief. While Ralph improved with exposure, he still had terrible, terrible ideas about suitable road trip entertainment.

But he’d been so supportive today, and Sherloque had been so nasty to him earlier, that she was loath to yell at him. Although she was very close to reconsidering that, especially after he’d sung “The Song That Never Ends” until they’d hit the first rest stop.

The text was from Cisco. _Did you learn. Anything from Mama Snow. ?_

He was using his talk-to-text app, which always punctuated oddly. Maybe his hands were bothering him.

She looked at the letter on her lap and felt her throat knot. **Yes** she answered.

_?_

**It’s a long story. I don’t really want to tell it over text. No offense.**

Or maybe at all tonight. She felt raw after the events and revelations of the day.

Still, she wanted to tell Cisco at some point, just to see the compassion in his eyes. She wondered if he would be up for meeting her at the diner by his house tomorrow morning for waffles and comfort.

_That’s okay,_ he wrote back. _Are you guys coming back. To Star Labs?_

She frowned at the screen and typed **I wasn’t going to. Why? Do you need us?**

What had happened with Sherloque and the Cicada? The lack of texts from anyone in Central City told her that either nothing had happened or everything had.

_I may have. A slight owie a new one. And I would like my. Doctor to look at. It please._

Her eyes widened. She started to type **What happened???** but before she could, another text came through.

_Also the. Reports of my death are. Greatly exaggerated._

“Ralph,” she said very, very calmly.

“Take one down, pass it around - “

“Ralph.”

“Fifty-four bottles of beer on the - “

_“Ralph,”_ she snarled. Icicles dripped from her voice.

“Uh - yes?”

She pointed at the upcoming exit. “Take this one.”

“But on the surface streets, it’ll take an extra half an hour to get back to your - “

“Change of plans. We’re going back to Star Labs." She looked at Cisco's last text and broke out in a cold sweat. "And step on it.”

FINIS


End file.
